Anthropologist and educator Jan Olson is a big fan of the North Saskatchewan River Valley parks system. Also known as the Ribbon of Green, it is a continuous connection of more than 30 parks along the river in the Edmonton area, from Devon to Fort Saskatchewan. The park system encompasses over 7,300 hectares, making it the largest contiguous area of urban parkland in Canada.
The North Saskatchewan River looking towards Edmonton, 1962. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, ET-28-971)
Frederick G. Todd in Montreal, QC, 1909. (Image courtesy of McCord Stewart Museum)
Recommendations for parks and boulevards in Edmonton, also known as the Todd report, signed by Frederick G. Todd, 1907. (Courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, RG-8-8.18-20)
A logging raft on North Saskatchewan River, [ca. 1907]. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-34-16)
A gold dredge at work on the river in Edmonton, 1898. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-39-4)
Coal mining on the North Saskatchewan River near Edmonton, 1904. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-39-5)
Gold washing on the river in Edmonton, [ca. 1898]. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-39-6)
An excursion boat to Fort Saskatchewan on July 1, 1937. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-160-1000)
Winter in Edmonton, Alberta, [ca. 1900]. (Image courtesy Provincial Archives of Alberta, B9288 via flickr.com)
A snow plane on the North Saskatchewan River, 1937. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-160-1003)
Canoe races on the North Saskatchewan River, on July 1, 1937. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-160-1552)
Boating on the North Saskatchewan River, [ca. 1910]. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-793-202)
A boat race on the North Saskatchewan River to celebrate Alberta’s 75th Anniversary, 1980. (Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, ET-28-2247)
Walking the trails of Edmonton’s river valley. Fall 2014. Photo by Olga Mikheenkova.
The trails of Edmonton’s river valley. Fall 2014. Photo by Olga Mikheenkova.
Wildlife in Edmonton’s river valley. Winter 2014. Photo by Olga Mikheenkova.
Mama coyote is peeking out of the woods before crossing a trail with its cubs in Edmonton’s river valley. Fall 2014. Photo by Olga Mikheenkova.
The North Saskatchewan River through the trees in Edmonton’s river valley, south bank, winter 2014. Photo by Olga Mikheenkova.
But it wasn’t always like this.
Lots of industrial developments in the river valley happened in the 19th and early 20th centuries, making it far from park-like. The earliest brick-making and coal mining operations in the river valley started in the 1840s followed by dump sites, gravel pits, and lumber yards. By the 1900s, most of the river valley was cleared of its trees for lumber.
These industrial activities began to shift away from the river valley in the 1920s, allowing for its ecosystem to be restored.
Proposals to create a large park along Edmonton’s river valley first appeared from Canada’s first resident landscape architect Frederick Todd in 1907. Acting upon Todd’s advice, between 1907 and 1931, the City of Edmonton acquired more than 100 properties in the river valley to be used as parklands. In 1915, the provincial government adopted a report by Todd to protect the river valley and its ravines as a recreational area.
Jan Olson says Todd was a visionary: “He was the one who basically said you need to preserve the river valley and the ravines. And you need to make them parks.”
If Olson had her way, the City would change the name of Hawrelak Park to Frederick Todd Park in recognition of his importance.
“He’s the real reason why we have our beautiful, beautiful river valley and ravines in our city,” she says.
Todd designed parks and other open spaces right across Canada, from Vancouver to St. John’s. Even though he is not terribly well known today, his legacy is huge. Todd was designated a National Historic Person in 2020.
Meanwhile, the evolution of Edmonton’s river valley continued. In 1933, the City of Edmonton passed a bylaw to regulate land use and to preserve the river valley as parkland. The city underwent a period where it acquired private river valley properties from the 1950s to the 1970s. And in 1970, the City of Edmonton passed a bylaw that defined the river valley and ravines, regulated developments close to the river valley and created a long-term policy with the aim of buying more river valley lands.
A plan to unite the various parks that surrounded the North Saskatchewan River in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region was conceived during the early 1990s. In 1996, a group of volunteers known as the River Valley Alliance was formed from members of metropolitan area that the river passed through, including Devon, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc County, Parkland County, Strathcona County and Sturgeon County, with the aim of connecting the riverside parks as a larger park system, the Ribbon of Green.
Let Jan Olson have the last word: “It starts with the concept of nature being important in our lives and now people try to keep the ravines as a safe place.”
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